The most important event of the late 20th century was the disappearance from the political map of the world of the Eurasian superpower and the geopolitical equivalent of historical Russia-the USSR. A decade later, Central Asia - an area that has been under direct territorial and political control of Russia for 110 years and belongs to the sphere of its vital interests-is moving to the center of international political struggle and global strategic balance. Among the main factors determining the new "centrality" of Central Asia are:: a) the" discovery " of the Caspian Sea as the world's third most important (after Saudi Arabia and Western Siberia) area of concentration of oil and gas reserves and the dispute over ways to transport them to the most important markets-Asian, American and European; b) the formation of the North-South corridor, which is joined by the construction of the Caspian Sea - Persian Gulf shipping channel by Iran, which promises the largest revolution in world trade since the great geographical discoveries in the system of intermodal communications between Northern Europe, the Persian Gulf (via European Russia, the Caspian Sea and Iran) and the countries of South and East Asia (via Afghanistan); c) the emergence - following the establishment of US military bases in the Balkans-of US forces in the former Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus, with their deployment here from such a hyper-sensitive area as Afghanistan. These and other events are once again actualizing geopolitical interpretations of history, that is, such an understanding of the historical process, which is centered on the change in the forms of territorial and political power within the geography of the planet. I. COMMUNICATIONS AND THE TERRITORIAL AND POLITICAL DIVISION OF THE WORLD 1. If in the epoch of civilizations the geographical framework of history (location of continents, alternation of climatic zones, relief, circulation of continental waters) can be considered as a relativ ... Read more